216 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viil. 



uity of observing that, as a rule, they do not pass the" night, 

 under ordinary circumstances, on the ground, but climb upon 

 pickets, fencing, and on every other object on which they can 

 roost. On the tenth of July they were seen pairing and deposit- 

 ing their ova. In the first week of September they disappeared. 

 In the beginning of May, 1865, the young ones began to appear. 

 On the 9th of June, 1865, a swarm of locusts came from the 

 south. They extended from the west side of Lake Manitoba to 

 Fort Alexander on the east. They fell in great numbers in 

 that lake and on its eastern shore, but were very sparsely scat- 

 tered over the country to the east of the above body of water. 

 However those which were hatched in the spring, aud those that 

 came in June did not seriously injure the growing crops, and 

 the farmers reaped an abundant harvest. In 1867 the locusts 

 made their appearance in very great numbers, but came about 

 the beginning of August, aud consequently did not do much 

 injury to the wheat crops, but many of the farmers had hard 

 work to save the barley and oats. These, according to their 

 habit, deposited their eggs in great numbers, and departed to 

 die in some other place, either to the east or south-east of this 

 place. The river ice began to break up on the 24th of April, 

 1868, and on the 7th of May I took the following note : ' Grass- 

 hoppers moving about, color pale white, not much bigger than 

 fleas.' On the 22nd of the same month their numbers had 

 greatly increased, and some had become brown. They evidently 

 continued coming out of the ground during the whole month of 

 May, and a few perhaps during the first ten days of June. All 

 the grain of every kind that was growing was eaten up by them 

 before they took their departure, which was in the end of July 

 aud during the first week of August. After this none were 

 seen until 1872, when on the 5th of August they appeared. By 

 the 12th they had become very numerous, and on the 14th they 

 were depositing their eggs. In the first week of September many 

 of them had taken their departure, and all disappeared by the 

 last of that month. Their offspring began to appear about the 

 middle of May, and by the middle of June the whole country 

 was literally covered with them, no grain had been sown, the 

 potatoe vines had been consumed, and even the pasture on the 

 plains suffered greatly from their ravages. However they left 

 about the usual time. The next and last visitation we had from 

 these Living plagues was in July, 1874. On the 17th immense 



